s in that city a place called
Illidskjalf, and when Odin is seated there upon his lofty throne he sees
over the whole world and discerns all the actions of men.")

My youthful imagination was fired by the ardor, zeal and religious
fervor of my good father, and I exclaimed: "Why not sail to this goodly
land? The sky is fair, the wind favorable and the sea open."

Even now I can see the expression of pleasurable surprise on his
countenance as he turned toward me and asked: "My son, are you
willing to go with me and explore--to go far beyond where man has ever
ventured?" I answered affirmatively. "Very well," he replied. "May the
god Odin protect us!" and, quickly adjusting the sails, he glanced at
our compass, turned the prow in due northerly direction through an open
channel, and our voyage had begun.(6)

(6 Hall writes, on page 288: "On the 23rd of January the two Esquimaux,
accompanied by two of the seamen, went to Cape Lupton. They reported a
sea of open water extending as far as the eye could reach.")

The sun was low in the horizon, as it was still the early summer.
Indeed, we had almost four months of day ahead of us before the frozen
night could come on again.

Our little fishing-sloop sprang forward as if eager as ourselves for
adventure. Within thirty-six hours we were out of sight of the highest
point on the coast line of Franz Josef Land. We seemed to be in a
strong current running north by northeast. Far to the right and to the
left of us were icebergs, but our little sloop bore down on the narrows
and passed through channels and out into open seas--channels so narrow
in places that, had our craft been other than small, we never could have
gotten through.

On the third day we came to an island. Its shores were washed by an open
sea. My father determined to land and explore for a day. This new land
was destitute of timber, but we found a large accumulation of drift-wood
on the northern shore. Some of the trunks of the trees were forty feet
long and two feet in diameter.(7)

(7 Greely tells us in vol. 1, page 100, that: "Privates Connell and
Frederick found a large coniferous tree on the beach, just above the
extreme high-water mark. It was nearly thirty inches in circumference,
some thirty feet long, and had apparently been carried to that point
by a current within a couple of years. A portion of it was cut up for
fire-wood, and for the first time in that valley, a bright, cheery
camp-fire gave comfort